Exclusive: Former Yahoo CEO, Equifax CEO to testify at U.S. Senate hearing

Marissa Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo, participates in a panel discussion at the 2015 Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco Thomson Reuters (Reuters) - Former Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer and the current and former CEOs of Equifax Inc will testify before a U.S. Senate panel on Nov. 8 on two massive data breaches, a committee spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Verizon Communications Inc acquired most of Yahoo Inc's assets in June. Yahoo disclosed in October that a 2013 data breach affected all 3 billion of its accounts, compared with an estimate of more than 1 billion disclosed in December.

Frederick Hill, a spokesman for the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, confirmed that Mayer, interim Equifax CEO Paulino do Rego Barros Jr. and former Equifax CEO Richard Smith would testify before the panel.

Equifax disclosed in September that the data breach affected as many as 145.5 million U.S. consumers, and Smith has testified on the issue before three committees.

Verizon, the No. 1 U.S. wireless operator, combined Yahoo with AOL, which it bought two years ago, to form a venture called Oath. Mayer said in June in a blog post that Yahoo had taken steps to bolster its "security defenses."